Many say the reason the search was so short was that with Carnesale, Rudenstine grew dependent on an assertive second-in-charge, and the possibility of spending months without a provost after Carnesale's departure would have been disastrous.

"To put it mildly, Al Carnesale was not a 'yes man,'" Murphy says.

As well, the lesson of the Green provostship was that Rudenstine demands a full partner in this administrative marriage. Rudenstine and Carnesale have been friends for two decades.

Carnesale's decision to accept the chancellorship at UCLA took Mass. Hall observers by surprise, and many Mass. Hall administrators--including Rudenstine--spent the weekend prior to the announcement trying to convince him to change his mind, sources say.

Because Carnesale's good friend and known-quantity status proved such important factors in the success of the Carnesale-Rudenstine relationship, the choice of Fineburg was appropriate. Rudenstine and Fineberg are good friends, and despite the remoteness the Public Health dean's Longwood campus office, Fineberg has kept strongly in touch with University-wide issues.

"He's a superb person, a superb human being, all the right values, all the right concerns about the institution and the people," Rudenstine said of Fineberg when he appointed him provost.

The Ox

If you come to meet Carnesale, bring a firm handshake and a healthy store of determination. A towering bear of a man, he greets you with a shock of anarchic white hair and a ruddy face with a stiffly mischievous grin. Unlike Rudenstine's office, which is a picture right out of a designer's catalogue, Carnesale's has a certain stoic feel to it, with no personal effects or complications in decor--bearing a striking resemblance to how he handles issues.

His persona can alternate from the professorial to the cagey. Pressing Carnesale on a controversial issue is a lot like wrestling an alligator: it's hard to get a grip, and just when you think you have one, he slips away.

"[I]t was never quite evident to me where he was coming from," says Donene Williams, president of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW).

Despite constant collaboration, some activities fall more exclusively in Carnesale's court than in Rudenstine's, particularly when it comes to trouble areas.

Sources say Rudenstine handles employment problems, feuds and tensions at the highest levels of the University with deans, vice presidents and tenure prospects. In fact, Rudenstine is said to protect Carnesale from these disputes.

Carnesale handles larger employment problems that require the skills of a master negotiator rather than the delicacy of someone who works well one-on-one. It's the art of conflict versus that of compromise.

Earlier in his career, Carnesale helped negotiate nuclear arms treaties for the U.S. government. Today he brings those skills to bear on his work with Harvard's unions and in handling other quicksands of the University.

For instance, earlier this year, responsibility for the Office of Information Technology (OIT) was transferred from the vice president of finance to the provost. The move was in part a reflection of information technology's increased importance in the University.